Marvellous maiolica attracts new admirers

THE Guerlain collection sold in Paris last month had quality, decorative appeal and a first airing on the market for around seven decades.

Or, as one specialist ceramics dealer put it, the sale “ticked various boxes and was a nice encapsulation of an old-fashioned collection”.

So when this select consignment was offered at Drouot by Beaussant- Lefèvre (25% buyer’s premium) on January 31, the results proved it: a sell-out of all 29 lots boosted by a handful of dramatic prices for the best of the bunch.

Jean-Pierre and Christiane Guerlain put together their ceramics collection in the inter-war period and just after the Second World War. These keen enthusiasts also collected Hispano-Moresque wares (dispersed some years ago), and their nephew Jean Pierre collected French faience.

The maiolica market can be selective and not everything automatically flies out of the window. The group sold last month under the expertise of Michel Vandermeersch had come from Madame Guerlain’s descendants. This was old-school taste with less of an emphasis on the historatio wares with their biblical or mythological scenes that tend to lead this field these days.

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